This invention relates to a new and useful improvement in electronic board games, with magnetic pawn playing pieces. The movement of the playing pieces has traditionally been accomplished by a player moving it by hand, with no further interaction of the playing piece with the game board. Thus, after playing the game many times the player becomes bored with it and loses interest, since no particular skill is required in the movement of the playing piece.
It is well known in the art that a permanent magnet emits an external magnetic field which can either attract or repel other magnetically charged objects, or attract iron type objects. It is therefore, possible to use a hand held permanent magnet to either repel or attract a magnetic type playing piece without touching it.
Further, it is also well known in the art that a permanent magnet emits a magnetic field which is capable of permeating various types of materials, such as translucent plastics.
Therefore, an object such as an electronic reed switch placed under a game board's surface can be activated due to the magnetic field emitted by a magnetic pawn playing piece as it is brought into close proximity thereof. The reed switch being connected in series to an energy source and the light bulb causes the light bulb to light when the reed switch is closed. Thus, unlikeother prior art games a player using my invention is challenged by the skill required to move the playing pieces along the surface of the game board within the play area boundaries.
Further, the player is intrigued by the almost magic effect of the activation of the numerous light sources as the many playing pieces deploy on the game board surface and are brought into close proximity to the light source without the player touching it.